Gertrude Ogilvie

Gertrude "Trudy" Helen Ogilvie (nee McDonald) entered into heaven on November 22nd, 2024 at the Brunswick County Hospice Center (SECU) in Shallotte, North Carolina surrounded by her adoring family.

Trudy was born May 12, 1946 in Flushing, Queens, NY and grew up in Mineola, NY. Upon graduating from Mineola High School, Trudy felt a pull towards religious life and spent three years at The Sisters of St. Dominic Convent of Amityville. Realizing the convent was not her calling, she left and rekindled a relationship with Malcolm Ogilvie, her high school sweetheart who had recently returned from Vietnam. Trudy and Mac wed in 1970 and embarked upon two decades of a truly epic and sweeping life, adding four children and living wherever the Marine Corps sent them including Indiana, Maryland, California, Pennsylvania, Okinawa Japan (twice!) and Virginia (three times).

As a military spouse, Trudy made an impact everywhere she went supporting other military families, volunteering in classrooms, leading the PTA, and lectoring at her Church. Later on, she found her professional calling as an IT leader at Annandale Terrace Elementary School for over 15 years, building the first computer labs at the school and pioneering some of the earliest instruction in computer literacy. Even when health challenges made life difficult, Trudy showcased her trademark perseverance. She returned to her teaching role and continued to Lector and bring the readings to life, in her calm, clear voice, to the parishioners of St. Bernadette's 10:45 Sunday Mass, slowly but confidently approaching the lectern supported by her walker, and at times, her husband Mac.

Trudy was, simply, fun personified--the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the 'life of a party'. You'd become fast friends at a wedding reception on Cape Cod because she'd pull you into a rousing rendition of "Finnegan's Wake." If the party required someone to dance on a table, Trudy was the first one to jump up and whenever there was an opportunity, she would lead a chorus of "New York, New York." If you were one of the hundreds of kids picked up for soccer practice in Springfield by Trudy, she would welcome you into her brown Ford Econoline van with a huge smile and a warm, British-accented "Hello Dahhhhling." Trudy's fun was open and inviting--she was game and her charisma pulled everyone in along with her. She was fearless and hilarious. She was the first family member to get a tattoo - a green shamrock that she got with her son's best friend and another time, she welcomed her son, Chris, back from an extended visit by greeting him at the airport with a large pillow concealed under her shirt pretending to be pregnant. Through all the fun, her doting husband, Mac, gamely played along, perhaps not as loudly or colorfully, but always closely at her side with a face bearing his trademark grin.

Trudy's belief in fun, that life was too short and fleeting to take yourself too seriously, was only enhanced by her devout Catholic faith. A Dominican nun, a CCD teacher, a lay reader and leader, Trudy's faith was central to who she was. Yet being Catholic was no passive affair for Trudy--she read deeply and widely among Catholic theologians like Thomas Merton, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and others, and with more intensity as she tried to make sense of her health challenges. She strongly believed that a resilient Church required engaged, critical adherents and she was always quick to hold priests accountable for their sermons using her encyclopedic knowledge of scripture to challenge or provide a contrasting perspective. Struck by its beauty and moral clarity, Trudy would often repeat Pope Francis' phrase "Who am I to judge?", a worldview that aptly captures the quiet humility that informed Trudy's approach to everyone, stranger or otherwise.

Trudy's faith and infectious vitality for life shaped what is perhaps her most powerful legacy: her relentless, fierce, unflinching love for her family and friends. For nearly 30 years, Trudy raised four kids (and a golden retriever Chewbacca) in multiple apartments, houses, and military bases across two continents and myriad states. It was a way of life that few could navigate with such devotion, agility, and grace. Trudy might have gotten lost a few times on the winding roads of Okinawa to her daughter's basketball game, but you better believe she made it. When the Carlisle, Pennsylvania youth soccer league needed a referee for Saturday games, Trudy took the ref class, put on the uniform, and showed up so the games could be played. When one of her high school sons' friends wanted to crash for a few months on the family couch--Trudy, naturally welcomed him and sent him to school with her signature peanut butter sandwich. The front door of the family home on Veranda Drive was never still for long as Trudy hosted a weekly Rosary and Book Club with friends or was welcoming her kids' friends from high school, college, sports teams, or the Marine Corps - there was always room to pull up another chair for dinner and always a cold beer to share sitting at the kitchen table. Trudy made everyone she knew feel like they were one of God's children, because for her you truly were.

It is perhaps fair to say that if there were anything Trudy would have wanted as a legacy, it would be that she had inspired her family and friends to simply love thy neighbor. Father Greg Boyle seems to truly capture the essence of Trudy's life when he says "Imagine a circle of compassion, and now imagine no one is standing outside that circle." Trudy's life was indeed that, an ever-widening circle of compassion.

Trudy is preceded in death by her father, Arthur McDonald, her mother, Gertrude Janis, her stepfather, Peter Janis, brother Artie McDonald, and brother Joe McDonald. She is survived by her devoted husband, Mac Ogilvie, who selflessly devoted himself to being by her side as her illness advanced significantly, and four children, Jen O'Connell (Dan), Chris Ogilvie (Lisa), Andrew Ogilvie (Marie-aude), and Meghan Ogilvie (Greg), and her ten grandchildren.

A celebration of Trudy's life will be held in Springfield, Virginia on Saturday, August 2nd at St. Bernadette's Catholic Church followed by a joyful gathering at the Springfield Country Club. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to a charity of your choice in Trudy's name.